Sheriff Woody
Sheriff Woody Sheriff Woody Pride is one of the main protagonists in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3 (the others being Buzz Lightyear and Jessie). He is voiced by Tom Hanks. Conception and creation :: Woody was originally intended to be a Howdy Doody-like ventriloquist's dummy and was named after Western actor Woody Strode.1 John Lasseter always wanted Tom Hanks to play the character of Woody. Lasseter claimed Hanks "... has the ability to take emotions and make them appealing. Even if the character, like the one in A League of Their Own, is down-and-out and despicable."2 Early test footage, using Hanks' voice from Turner and Hooch, convinced Hanks to sign on to the film.23 Toy Story was Hanks' first animated film role.4 ''TOY STORY In the beginning of ''Toy Story, Woody coordinates a reconnaissance mission around his owner Andy's birthday party in the days before Andy's family move to their new house in order to find out what Andy's new toys are and to make sure that none of them are good enough to replace him as Andy's favorite toy. To his dismay, Andy receives a new action figure in the form of space ranger Buzz Lightyear, whose impressive features soon see Buzz replacing Woody as Andy's favorite toy. As the former de facto leader of Andy's toys, Woody is disappointed and resentful at his replacement. Woody does a strangely evil thing by attempting to push buzz behind andys desk, but instead hit him out of the window. after rc rats him out about buzz all the the toys turn on him, but before he is punished, Woody is taken with Andy to the space-themed Pizza Planet restaurant. While Andy's mother refuels the car at a gas station, Woody ponders how he can return to Andy's room alone. Suddenly, he is confronted by Buzz and the two end up fighting and accidentally land outside the car, which drives off and leaves the two stranded. Woody spots a truck bound for Pizza Planet and plans to rendezvous with Andy there. Realizing that he will face the wrath of the other toys if he returns alone, Woody convinces Buzz that the truck was a spaceship. At Pizza Planet, Buzz stuffs himself into a rocket-shaped claw game machine, forcing Woody to clamber into the machine to try and rescue him. Woody and Buzz are then captured by Andy's next-door neighbor, the toy-destroying Sid Phillips. As Woody desperately attempts to escape from Sid's house before Andy's family's moving day, Buzz realizes that he is in fact a toy and becomes a depressed burden to Woody. In the film's turning point, Woody admits that Buzz is a "cool toy", but despairs that he himself stands no chance of being Andy's favorite. When Buzz is taken away by Sid to be destroyed with a firework rocket, Woody teams up with Sid's mutant toys and stages a rescue of Buzz, terrifying Sid into running away in fear of his own toys. Woody and Buzz climb into the moving van, attracting the attention of Sid's dog Scud. When Buzz sacrifices himself to save Woody by tackling the dog, Woody attempts to rescue Buzz with Andy's RC. However, he is then chucked out of the van by the other toys, who mistakenly believed that Woody was trying to get rid of RC. When the RC's batteries run out, Woody realizes that he can ignite Buzz's rocket and manages to toss RC into the moving truck just as he and Buzz go soaring into the air. They glide in the air until they land safely inside Andy's car. At the end of the film, Woody and Buzz stage another reconnaissance mission to prepare for the new toy arrivals. As Woody wonders what gift may be worse than Buzz, Andy receives a puppy, much to his and Buzz's dread. ''TOY STORY 2 In ''Toy Story 2, Andy accidentally tears Woody's arm while playing with him before leaving for cowboy camp (an annual trip he makes with Woody), leaving Woody on the shelf. Woody, being unable to move his arm, begins to have recurring nightmares of becoming a disused toy, but wakes to find that Wheezy, a penguin toy whose squeaker is broken, is being taken by Andy's mother to be sold at a yard sale. Woody rescues Wheezy with the help of Andy's dog Buster, but he is accidentally left behind at the yard sale and subsequently stolen by Al McWhiggin, the owner of Al's Toy Barn. Woody is brought to Al's apartment, where he discovers that he is a toy created from Woody's Roundup TV show in the 1950s. By acquiring him, Al now has a complete collection of the show's merchandise, which he plans to sell to a toy museum in Tokyo, Japan. Woody meets the toy versions of the show's co-stars: his sidekick Jessie, his horse Bullseye, and an old prospector named Stinky Pete formerly known as 'The Prospector' (who is still apparently in mint condition in his original box). The three are excited to be going to Japan, but knowing that he is still Andy's toy, Woody has doubts and tries to escape the apartment without success. Later, Woody's arm is repaired and he is given a fresh paint job, which he appreciates. He slowly warms up to the idea of going to Japan, particularly after learning that Jessie was once the favorite toy of a little girl named Emily who gave her away after growing up and he is convinced by Stinky Pete that, if he returns to Andy, he will eventually be thrown away when he grows up, whereas if he goes to Japan, he will be remembered and treasured forever. He is later confronted by Buzz and the other toys, who try to take him home. While Woody initially turns his back on them, he soon comes to his senses and invites the other toys from Woody's Roundup to come along, but is denied freedom by Stinky Pete, who is determined to go to Japan since he was never sold as a toy. Woody and the rest of the collection are packed up for shipping overseas and taken to the Tri-County Airport. Woody gets into a spat with the Prospector in the baggage handling area, during which the old rip in his arm is reopened (but this time, his arm still can move, because it's just a little rip). Woody is eventually able to defeat the Prospector with help from the other toys by tossing him into a girl's backpack (sentencing him to an unfortunate fate of being doodled on by its owner). While Bullseye is rescued, Jessie is loaded into the plane's cargo hold. Assisted by Buzz and Bullseye, Woody is able to slip on board and extract her from the cargo hold just before the plane takes off. Woody and the others happily return home, where his arm is once again repaired (Andy's fix is somewhat lopsided, but Woody takes this as a badge of pride). Woody and Buzz now accept the fact that Andy will eventually grow up, but even after he does, they will still be there for each other. ''TOY STORY 3 In ''Toy Story 3, Andy, now seventeen years old, is due to go to college. After one last attempt to be played with by Andy, Woody gives up the chance of playtime, but assures the other toys that their job in life is to be there for Andy, and if it's in the attic, then so be it. However, Andy plans to only take Woody to college, with the other toys going into the attic, but they are almost thrown away after being mistaken for trash. Woody then tries to stop them from being donated to Sunnyside Daycare, but they don't listen and Woody goes along by accident. After being welcomed by Lotso Huggin' Bear and the daycare toys, Woody scolds Andy's toys for turning their backs on their owner. He eventually leaves without them when Buzz also admits he wishes to stay. Description An overhead view of Sunnyside. If we consider the playground to be on the north end of the property, the entrance and parking lot is to the south. The hallway, lobby, security office, and bathrooms are in the southern part of the building. The Caterpillar room is to the west, and the Butterfly room is to the east. Highlights of the playground include the Sandbox (northwest), playset (center), merry-go-round (southeast), swingset (north), and the walkway to the garbage shute. The garbage shute must be accessed by a walkway behind a chain link fence through a gate, and around the entire playground is an 8-foot high wall. The garbage chute leads to the large garbage bin on the street. Spoiler: The street that the both Andy's mom and the garbage truck approache on is on the right side of the image. Woody is able to get out of Sunnyside, but loses his hat and is taken home by a girl named Bonnie. At Bonnie's house, he is told of the truth about Sunnyside - it's run like a prison by Lotso, bitter from his replacement by his owner years before. Woody returns to Sunnyside, and with the help of the Chatter Telephone, formulates a plan to escape the Daycare through a garbage chute. Woody and the toys also accidentally reset Buzz to a Spanish mode before escaping Sunnyside. However, Lotso and his minions confront them, and Woody tells Big Baby that he was never replaced by his owner. Then Lotso snaps, reveals his true colors and angrily denegrates the cute toy and all his servants as worthless, Big Baby throws Lotso into the dumpster. Woody crosses the now available bridge, but Lotso pulls him in as well as an act of revenge for foiling his plans, and the other toys are brought along with the two to a landfill. There, they face being killed by a shredder, and later an incinerator. During this time, Woody and a reset Buzz rescue Lotso from the shredder, but Lotso leaves them to the incinerator (believing all toys are trash). The toys cannot escape being pulled into the flames, and hold hands, accepting oblivion as a family. However, they are saved by the three Aliens with a massive claw. Afterwards, Hamm and Slinky want to get back at Lotso, but Woody convinces them he's not worth it, knowing that Lotso just needs to be loved again. Woody and the toys ride a garbage truck back home, and the other toys prepare for the attic. Woody writes Bonnie's address on the box meant for the attic, and Andy takes the toys there. Bonnie recognizes Woody, and Andy gives him to her as well, although he is initially reluctant to let Woody go. Woody and the toys watch Andy drive away to college, and as seen in the credits, embrace their new life with Bonnie. It was revealed in August 2009 by Lee Unkrich that Woody's official last name was "Pride".5 Unkrich stated in his Twitter blog that “Woody’s actual full name is ‘Woody Pride’ and has been since the earliest days of developing the original Toy Story.”6 Trivia *Woody makes a cameo in one of the additional bloopers of A Bug's Life as a crewman when he enters the frame, holding a clapper-board upside down, to mark the end of a scene gone wrong. * '* *'Woody, along with Buzz Lightyear and Hamm, appears in the movie Cars as car versions during the end credits. Woody is a woody wagon. ' ''* *While Woody is voiced by Tom Hanks in all the films and few of the toys, his brother, Jim Hanks, voices most of the Woody toys and him in the video games and Toy Story shorts. '' *''One of his memorable outtakes is from Toy Story 2 when he gets stuck in the hole of the brown tape and laughs sheepishly with embarrassment. '' *''Toy Story 3's director Lee Unkrich revealed on his Twitter that Woody's full name is "Woody Pride". However, his last name has never been used in any of the three films. '' *''The original first half of Toy Story featured Woody as a different character where he let the ruling of the bedroom go to his head. What is probably the highlight of the original half is when Woody throws Buzz out the window on purpose and not caring a bit what just happened or what the other toys thought. It was because of this that Toy Story was almost cancelled after a Black Friday Viewing, but Pixar was given another chance, and over the last two weeks, they reworked the first half of the movie they wanted to make, giving Woody a more likeable character. According to John Lasseter, they wanted the audience to be like, "No, Woody, don't do that.", instead of, "Wow, What a Jerk." '' *''On that note, the 10th anniversary commentary also explained that while Woody was indeed jealous of Buzz Lightyear, he didn't intend to get rid of him when he pushed him out of the window, he just wanted him to fall behind the desk so that Andy would choose Woody instead of Buzz that one time. '' *''Woody is based on John Lasseter's Casper doll, as well as the Howdy Doody puppets from the 1950s. '' *''Woody is 15.18 inches tall, and his hat adds on three-fourths of an inch. '' *''John Lasseter Said that,"Woody has exactly a handme down toy from Andy's Father. '' edit Other quotes by or about Woody'' :"Reach for the sky!" "This town ain't big enough for the two of us." "Somebody's poisoned the water-hole!" "Yee-haw! Giddy-up partner! We've got to get this wagon train a-movin'!" "You're my favourite deputy." "There's a snake in my boot." "I'd like to join your posse, boys, but first I'm gonna sing a little song." ''' :—Woody's various voice-box phrases ' :"A moving buddy: if you don't have one, get one!" '' :—Woody, during the first staff meeting ''' :"Okay! Save your batteries." ' :—Woody '' :"There's no place like home! There's no place like home!" ''' :—Woody, frantically finding an exit route after leaving Sid's room '' :Buzz: "Come on, fellas. Did Woody ever give up when Sid had me strapped to a rocket?" Toys: "No." Buzz: "No! And did he give up when you threw him out of the back of that moving van?" Mr. Potato Head: "Oh, you had to bring that up." Buzz: "No, he didn't! We have a friend in need, and we will not rest until he is safe in Andy's room! Now let's move out!" ''' :—Buzz Lightyear, as he demands the toys never to give up until Woody is safely home ''' Characteristics Woody is an old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll. The voice-box that is activated by the pull-string says many simple phrases such as "Reach for the sky!" and "You're my favorite deputy!" As mentioned in ''Toy Story 2, his construction includes an "original hand-painted face, natural dyed-blanket stitched vest, and hand-stitched poly-vinyl hat." Woody wears an empty gun holster at his belt. He is Andy's favorite toy since kindergarten, with a special spot on the bed, and is the leader of the toys in Andy's room. In Toy Story 2 it is revealed that he is based on the main character from a popular 1950s TV Show, Woody's Roundup. When Al is bargaining with Andy's mom in an attempt to take Woody, Andy's mom declines Al's bargain, stating that Woody is "an old family toy." Stinky Pete also directly refers to him as a hand-me-down toy later in the movie, and when Woody finds a record player in Al's apartment room, he states "I haven't seen one of these in ages!", again supporting that he has been around longer than Andy. (In fact, when introducing the 2009 set of Toy Story collectibles, John Lasseter said "We always imagined he was a hand-me-down to Andy from his father.") He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films and by his brother Jim Hanks on other occasions. Although he has been deemed the boss in Andy's room, Woody is somewhat of a flawed character as seen in all three movies, as he has random bouts of jealousy, anger, frustration, and feelings of inadequacy regarding his role many times. He even is seen harming(almost destroying) Buzz in their first encounter to stay in Andy's good graces. These emotions often arise out of his frustration of being an immortal toy adjusting to his human owner aging. edit] Lego Sets In late 2009, Lego released a Woody's Roundup! playset as one of the first released playsets, consisting of minifigures Woody, Bullseye, Jessie and Stinky Pete, and buildings Sheriff, Jail and a gold mine. The set has a trap in between Jail and Sheriff that flings the minifigures, a safe, Lego money, a wall that falls off the Jail and Lego pieces that fall through the top of the gold mine, specifically to land on Stinky Pete's head. In early 2010, Lego released Woody and Buzz to the Rescue, a playset including a pull-back RC the car, Woody minifigure, and Buzz minifigure with a removable rocket attatched to his back. In late April 2010, Lego released a line of Toy Story 3. Toy Story 3 included: Trash Compactor Escape, Western Train Chase, Trash Truck Escape and Lotso's Dump Truck. edit] Other appearances edit] Cultural impact edit] Reception Tom Hanks's vocal performance as Sheriff Woody was received positively by film critics. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today approved of the selection of Hanks for the lead role of Woody.7 Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated that Tom Hanks "brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody."8